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dear catfish people, can u help me plz. all 10 of my corys have lost their brabels from sharp gravel. will it grow back? what can i do to help them heal? will they die? c they are housed in a 6foot tank and are difficult to catch

Barbels will grow back, and some medication like melafix will help. I've read, though, that they might not grow to their original lengths.
The cories will be a tad slower in finding food, but they'll survive.

What kind of filter do you have? Unless it's a UGF, sand is a very good option. Otherwise, you can take some time to sort through the gravel.

Cory barbels will certainly grow back, especially if their tank is treated with Melafix. Your cories won't get sick or die, as long as you are sure that it's the gravel that eroded their barbels in the first place. Barbels only help cories find food, so yours would be fine. If the gravel really is that sharp, I would try to replace it with sand, or at least a more rounded substrate.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

I'm a bit worried about my new cories and their barbels as well. They are Schwartzi cories and I haven't had them that long. I got 4 to start with and they were all small and had very short barbels. When I got another 4 of them their barbels were longer. Now after a few weeks with all 8 together it looks like all of their barbels are the same length...short.

I have no idea what happened. I have no nitrates and the gravel is small, round, and epoxy coated. They have been eating a variety of foods so I don't think it is nutritional. Could the first group have had some kind of bacterial infection that spread to the second group? Will Melafix really work? You can see what they look like in this picture of one with the short barbels. http://home.comcast.net/~molanic/images/IMG_0124.jpg

One reason that cories lose their barbels is because of stress. Stress can derive from many things, be it poor water quality, disease, aggressive tankmates, etc. Maybe you aren't changing your water and vacuuming the gravel enough. They should be done once a week or more, to ensure good health.
Do you think that your cories are dealing with any of these things, or perhaps something else? If you don't know what it is, try observing them for a while, and seeing if anything is out of place.

Melafix usually helps barbels grow back if they've been worn down from physical causes, I don't know how well it would work for stressed cories. I would think that finding the reason that they're stressed and correcting it would help you more.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

I never knew of a worried Cory that lost his barbels...

Stress has nothing to do with the loss and Melafix, an anticeptic, does not promote missing barbels to grow back.

The one hobbyist knew the reason for the damage, sharp gravel, which must be replaced if he plans on keeping the trops.

The other problem is a type of fungus that attacks the barbels down to nubs. If the fungus, almost invisable, spreads to the mouth area, that's when the problems begin.

Observation is required. If the barbels remain as nubs and no further damage is seen, a portion of the barbels may eventually begin to regrow.

To dose Melafix with young Corys in the tank could be a disaster.

--garyroland.

Could it just be caused by the stress of being in a new tank? I do regular water changes and the tank is understocked. It is a 55 gallon with only the 8 cories, 5 lemon tetras and 1 pleco. Nobody is aggressive and the cories are very active when they are not chillin' in their driftwood cave. I had not planned on adding more fish until I made sure they were doing well and were healthy. Trying the Melafix for a week couldn't hurt I guess, right? Thanks for the information.

edit:
Ooops, just saw that last post after I posted. Maybe I should wait on the Melafix afterall I always thought it was pretty benign, but I will wait.

I also had wondered if young cories have no barbels and then they grow longer as it gets bigger?

Last edited by MO at 28-Oct-2004 11:10

Last edited by MO at 28-Oct-2004 11:12

I just received a dozen young Albino (pink) Corys and they do indeed have tiny barbels...

Be advised, you do not have enough trops in your tank to keep it cycled.

--garyroland.

Young cories do indeed have small barbels. They grow out a lot as they age of course, unless they are shortened for some reason.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

I'm thinking that maybe some of the cories are younger because I have 1 or 2 that are bigger and their barbels are the longest of the bunch.

I'm fretting about this I guess because when I first got my Yoyo loaches their barbels were very short and one of them had very red barbels that looked infected. That one died the day I brought him home, but the others are now thriving and have really long whiskers.

I don't know that my tank is that understocked considering that the pleco is a large common that is around 8" at this point. I would like to find him a better home eventually. For now though all I planned to add to the tank was more lemon tetras and my Yoyo loaches. I wanted to make sure the cories where good and healthy before I did that though.